Angkor Thom

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After Angkor Wat...we went on to Angkor Thom, which is an ancient walled city built around the 1100's and is said to have supported as many as one million people at its height. It is 3km square (the guides here love giving statistics), and is surrounded by a moat. It encloses a number of temples and other ancient structures. The biggest of these, more or less at the center of town, is Bayon - known for the towers with large stone faces carved into them, and two very long bas-reliefs.

I also visited Baphuon - a three tiered 'temple mountain' dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. Baphuon is not as far along in its restoration..and has several layers, with lots of steep steps. Some intrepid tourists had made their way to the top, but my guide had a bad knee, so we chose to just walk around the temple....of course on my own I would have clambered right up to the top (yeah right - if you believe that I have some property to sell you...)

Next up - Terrace of Elephants - given my continued obsession with elephants I was excited to see this...expecting a lot of huge carved free-standing elephants, (as I hadn't done much research), but it's a long promenade sort of thing, with lots of animals carved into the side....lions, and tigers and bears oh my (well - no bears)...but indeed a lot of elephants...be sure to click the link below to see all posted photos!

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Photos

Bayon Temple
Inside Angkor Thom